Visa May Downgrade FIFA's Credit Rating Over Corruption Arrests

FIFA's being spoken to in the only language it appears to understand by global banking giant Visa, which is threatening to abandon its lucrative sponsorship contracts with the footballing body unless it acts quickly to reassure the public that it's not all about shady deals involving millions of pounds in unmarked banknotes.

According to Reuters, Visa says FIFA needs to start "rebuilding a culture with strong ethical practices" in the wake of the corruption arrests, suggesting that if it doesn't see rapid change it plans to "reassess" its sponsorship of major tournaments.

Visa explained: "Our disappointment and concern with FIFA in light of today’s developments is profound. As a sponsor, we expect FIFA to take swift and immediate steps to address these issues within its organization."

In other sadly inevitable FIFA-related news, yesterday's announcement that football gaming franchise FIFA 16 will include female teams and players predictably kicked up your usual internet storm of scattergun anti-feminism sentiment. This led EA's boss Peter Moore to address the matter, saying on Twitter: "So sad to see the misogynistic vitriol following the FIFA 16 announcement regarding women in the game. We are better than this."

Maybe you are Peter, but the people you make money from clearly aren't. [Reuters]